


Food for thought

by jinglingvoid



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: I've mashed canon all together like a particularly badly made jumper.., M/M, make gotham a romcom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-11
Updated: 2019-05-11
Packaged: 2020-03-01 05:22:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18793849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinglingvoid/pseuds/jinglingvoid
Summary: On the run can offer choices one wouldn't normally choose. For example, being closer than normal to your once esteemed partner in crime. And Jon and Edd know this more than other people that certain feelings can develop over time and the lines between friends and colleagues can blur into new uncharted territory.





	Food for thought

If questioned Edward would explain that he loved people like a pair of shoes, irrevocably on the first day and the next, until the soles started to thin and wane. And, then discarded completely.  
It was at this moment that he realised loving Jonathan Crane was exactly like having an old pair of boots.  
Battered and unsightly, yes, but comfortable enough to warm the crevices of his heart.  
He nursed his coffee, drinking in all of the faint aromas and smiled. They had been out of Arkham for a week now and the days no longer felt numbered. The taste of victory still lingered despite the setbacks.  
His thoughts still lingered however painfully into the past. He’d had his own bruises now marred across sallow skin and tired eyes which was brought together by a nasty bloodied lip that continued to swell.  
In amongst all the chaos, his glasses had been snapped in two and still lay miserably at the top of Gotham’s bank. His new pair always seemed to slip down the bridge of his nose and sat tight at the ears.

 

“Good morning.”  
He looked up briefly, taking in the battered appearance of Jonathan. The man’s eyes were bulging with an insipid purpled smudge and stained with a thin scar overlapping his right eyelid. The skin of his cheeks was flushed and dried bits of blood were speckled here and there.  
“You look like shit,” Ed remarked almost incredulously as his eyes processed every little detail that was splayed on Jonathan’s face. His heart rate was disquieting, to say the least. If he’d not known Jonathan, he’d be tempted to smooth down the other’s hair, coaxing small affirmations just soft enough so both of them were reassured that they could survive the rest of the week.

“Well, not everyone can be a pampered poodle,” Jonathan answered, working for his hands together in an odd sort of ritual. Really, it was just like Edward to be focused on the small details rather than the bigger picture.  
His hopes may have been minorly disappointing but, if he’d retract his defeat then surely they could find a more feasible outcome in the future. Whenever that was.  
And then, it was his turn to be interrupted. Briefly, he wondered what would happen if he were to shut Edward’s trap permanently.  
“I thought I was being very presentable despite my injuries. And, you know, if you’d stop dressing as you walked out of a particularly cultish mass then- ” Ed had begun, gesticulating at Jonathan’s thin frame.  
“I didn’t say you didn’t.” Jonathan finished, running a hand through his hair and yawned. “Did you save some coffee?”

“Of course, I’m not an animal.” There were several stains that stood out and despite, Jonathan’s usual scrupulous sanitation in the small basement lab, everywhere else seemed to fall wayside.  
Still, it was the cleanest thing they could find in the dusty safe house.  
“Wait, you said I looked good.” Ed blinked, lips forming a smug smirk.  
“No.”  
“You said and I quote, ‘I didn’t say you didn’t’. So, you find me attractive, hm?”  
**_“No.”_**  
“I'd glad to see you’re still functioning. I always thought you were a curmudgeonly old man who had the emotional range that could rival the bat.”  
“In all my years of acknowledging you, I regret to inform you, I have several strains of fear toxin and I know by experience, that you’re a very unwilling subject.” A particular prudent smile worked its way on Jonathan's lips, revealing several pairs of crooked teeth. It wasn’t his ‘real smile’, he could smile a semi-descent grin but, it was the type regarded for those who he prefered to unsettle And in Edward’s case, he reserved it for moments like these.  
“You bastard.” A noise of protest welled up in Ed’s throat as he threw up his hands. The defeat was something that he didn’t take easily but, it beat all the times Jon had decided to get… testy with his forever growing formula.  
Once, he’d accidentally inhaled some whilst he had barged into the other’s room looking for the last mug that didn’t have a chip in. It was an incident that neither liked to recall fondly. 

Jonathan's finger’s laced around the mug and savoured the warmth that radiated from it. His eyes were drawn, tired and bloodshot. It seemed neither of them had gotten the sleep they felt they deserved.  
He grimaced and sighed wistfully as the coffee washed over his tongue.  
“There’s so much work that needs to be done.”  
“Pardon?” Edward asked, raising both eyebrows.  
“I mean, we need to relocate. Batman will be pulling out all the stops and he knows where our last base was.  
Really, Edward, I told you that moving to Gotham’s richest area was a bad idea. We practically dangled a carrot in front of his nose!”  
“Hold on, I said it was a good idea because you can blend in. Really, Jonathan, don’t you know that money makes people blind? I’m sure they were blind when you fired a gun at that university.” said Ed, tartly.  
“I’ve lived long enough to know not to regret my choices,” Jonathan informed, settling down the mug with a slight tremor.  
“Oh, so you’re avoiding the issue?” Edward’s hand had clenched itself around the ratty tablecloth and his knuckles were a starch white.

 

“Listen to what I’m saying or have you stopped using that oh-so gifted brain? I merely stated that living amongst Gotham’s richest was stupid at best and inevitable at worst.” Jonathan harrumphed. His face was drawn but not totally impassive either. His eyebrows quirked up and inquisitively waited and watched Edward’s ears grow pink.

 

“No, we’re not doing this. Not Now, Not Ever.” It was childish and he knew that very well, but, there were times when Jonathan’s words rubbed a little too close to the truth. And he’d decided long ago that the truth was subjective.

Still, there were many things he’d hated about the man; his impassive demeanour, his scathing criticism but the one thing that really struck a cord was the fact that in Jonathan’s world, he was just a blip on the map.  
He’d never be good enough.  
Nor could he measure up to the one true thing the scarecrow loved and fervently revelled in.  
Good lord, he knew about obsession; he had them too and he could be just as callous and cruel if the situation came to it.  
And yet… 

No. He wasn’t going to do this here. Not now, he was tired of playing cat and mouse. “I’m going to shower and then, we’ll move,” Ed said, finally after a few minutes of silence.  
“If we leave now then..”  
“Yes, yes, go about your business as usual. You hardly need my permission.” Jon waved a hand, peering around the ring of his mug and carefully wiped some of the coffee grinds away. He sat with a hunted expression and thought.  
Things certainly were interesting with Edward around. And more annoying too.


End file.
